All's Fair in Love and War
by Bressa W
Summary: It started out as an innocent prank on Snape. The Marauders never thought that Lily would go out with...him. When their prank backfires it's up to James, with the 'help' of Sirius, to win Lily back. LS, LJ. R&R!
1. Lily's Wrath

**Story:** All's Fair in Love and War

**Chapter:** One, Lily's Wrath

**Authoress:** Bressa W.

**Authoress' Note:** Sorry I've been gone so long! Unfortunately, I am no longer in possession of the internet and have to post my work on my friend's computer. Luckily, I get here quite often so expect rapid updates. I hope you like this story and PLEASE review, it's really rude to read without doing so.

**XxXxXxX**.

"Ha! I beat you!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air triumphantly, "That's three times in a row, mate. I think you might want to stop now," he advised the skinny, raven-haired teen sitting across from him.

James smirked, "You know, Sirius, it's amazing what your memory retains, because as I recall, I beat you five times straight earlier today."

"Really?" Sirius asked airily and with feigned surprise, "I don't remember..." he shrugged, "I'm still sexier than you."

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Am too!" To prove his point Sirius drew his wand and pointed it at his friend. "I challenge thee to a duel."

James drew his own wand and assumed a defensive stance, "On guard!"

The next five minutes were a noisy affair of cheap shots and amazing defenses for both sides, until Lily Evans ran down the staircase leading to the girl's dormitories. Lily was clothed only in her dressing gown, her fiery hair mussed with sleep, and her emerald eyes narrowed in anger.

"The entire tower is trying to sleep and you two are down here dueling? For heaven's sake, you're sixth year students! Don't you think you should try to set a better example? Aren't you best friends with a Gryffindor prefect? Merlin, why does Remus put up with you two? Didn't you learn anything from him at all?" Shrieked the enraged redhead.

"Because we're so damn loveable," Sirius said, sticking his lip out in a pout and giving her puppy eyes. Ironically, he'd become quite good at that since they had adapted their animagus forms.

James stowed his wand away calmly, a smile playing at the corners of his lips, "No, we really haven't learned anything from our good friend." He began cleaning the cards and other messes from their duel and the game of exploding snap that had proceeded it. "All you had to say was 'stop' Evans, there was no need to be so haughty."

"Honestly," Sirius agreed, easing himself into one of the many squashy armchairs that were strewn around the circular room, "I will say this though, we've learned loads from Lupin that we'd never have known otherwise. It's not fair to say we haven't learned anything."

"Oh really?" Lily retorted, appearing even more annoyed (if that was possible). "Care to share?"

James and Sirius seemed to be immersed in intense thought, scratching their chins and taking on a pensive expression. Finally, James replied, "Without him, we'd never know the password to the prefect's bathroom."

"Yes, indeed Prongs," Sirius added, "and everyone knows how much nicer it is in there."

Lily's face turned an interesting shade of crimson that bordered on violet and she made a sputtering noise. Collecting herself, she spat, "You boys are idiots!" With that she turned on her heel and stormed back up the staircase.

"You know what, Prongs?" Sirius asked in a tone of mock-seriousness, "I think she likes you."

James threw a pillow at his friend's head and the duel was back on.


	2. Mixed Signals

**Story:** All's Fair in Love and War

**Chapter:** One, Mixed Signals

**Authoress:** Bressa W.

**Authoress' Note:** Please review! And thank you to Stormy Llewellyn who edited the story and made suggestions and minor changes.

**XxXxXxX**.

"So Lily chewed you out last night?" Remus asked in a bemused voice. Sirius and James had just been filling him in on the previous night's escapades.

"Yeah! And we weren't even doing anything!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly.

"Life isn't fair sometimes, is it?" Pointed out Remus, patting his friend's arm sympathetically.

"Whatever," James muttered. His mind was on the night before, too, but his feelings were mixed. Did this mean that Lily really didn't want anything to do with him?

"Too bad for Wormtail, eh?" Sirius mentioned, changing the subject.

"Yeah..." James sighed, not paying any attention to what the other boy was saying, "Wait. What?"

Remus sighed, "You have to stop skiving off potions, mate. Wormtail accidently spilt an entire cauldron of irritation solution on himself."

"Broke out in boils about as big as your hand," added Sirius, "They took him to the hospital wing."

"Poor bloke," James said distractedly. He shook his head, "Here she comes! Look!"

Lily was indeed walking towards them. She seemed confused about something and almost turned around before thinking better or it, "Um...James? Can we talk? Maybe...go for a walk?"

"Whatever you want, Evans," James replied, cool and collected once more. He stood up and followed her out of the portrait hole. Sirius' cat calls followed them out of the room until Remus reached into his robes and stuffed a rather large piece of chocolate in a surprised Sirius' mouth.

For a while they walked in silence. James concentrated on keeping his calm, disaffected grin. Lily was wringing her hands. "What's wrong?" James asked her, eventually giving in to his curiosity.

"Nothing," she replied a little too quickly to be completely honest.

James cocked an eyebrow and halted their slow progress down the hall, "Really?" Lily nodded enthusiastically and he began walking again, chuckling, "Sounds like something to me." Habitually, he ruffled his hair.

"Why do you do that?" Lily asked him suddenly.

"Do what?" She waved her hand in some unknown gesture, "Fiddle with your hair; make it look messier. What's the point?"

This was a touchy subject with James because, in all honesty, he did it to impress her. Smoothly, he concocted a lie, "Dunno. I've done it since I was a kid." Once again they fell into an uneasy silence. James coughed.

"Cover your mouth!" Scolded a portrait of a rather dowdy looking witch with a fat baby.

"Sorry." James replied, but the irritation of the obscure portrait put a grin back on his face. Sneaking a glance at Lily he saw that she was smiling too.


	3. Sirius' Plan

**Story:** All's Fair in Love and War

**Chapter:** Three, Sirius' Plan

**Authoress:** Bressa W.

**Authoress' Note:** PLEASE REVIEW! And a big thank you to Stormy Llewellyn who always challenges my story and has a nose for plot holes. At her insistence, I'll mention that I'm aware Ron and Harry had a conversation similar to the one at the beginning of this chapter.

**XxXxXxX**.

"Why are the first years so small?" Sirius asked James, glancing at a group of first years who were playing with a biting frisbee a few feet from where they lounged under a large oak tree. "I swear, Prongs, we were never that small."

The two boys were thoroughly bored and nothing good ever came from that. With great apathy Sirius watched as one of the first years jumped up to grab the frisbee, only to be bitten by the extremely vicious toy. The dark-eyed boy snorted at the drama that ensued after the young boy started bleeding. The first years were in a panic until Lily Evans herself came walking over and fixed the cut with a wave of her wand and (in a very Muggle way that James found adorable) kissed it to make it better. The boy stared at her in awe, obviously a pureblood who did not understand the Muggle customs, and his friends looked extremely impressed. They didn't even mind that the Ravenclaw prefect took their frisbee with her as she went back to talk to her group of girlfriends.

Sirius snickered and rolled over in the grass, looking rather like a puppy laying in the sun, "Looks like you have some competition, Prongs."

James threw his rather thick History of Magic book at the other boy . After all, the book had little other use, at least as long as Binns was teaching the class. "And yes, the great Padfoot was at once an ickle first year. You were almost as small as Wormtail, he just stopped growing..."He took out the battered snitch he had stolen last year and released it, only to catch it nimbly again with his long fingers.

"Hey, I'm right here!" A poor, forgotten Peter piped up.

James grinned playfully, "Yeah, I know."

Across the lake, Severus Snape was muttering darkly under his breath, wandering here and there across a small patch of unoccupied grass. Occasionally, he shot a look over at the Marauders or Lily and her friends. James sat up suddenly, stowing the snitch back in his pocket. Sirius twisted on his back to get a good look at what was distressing his friend. Upon seeing the upside down image of his favorite tormentee his face twisted into one of disgust. Sometimes the amount of hate evident on Sirius' face when around Snape frightened James even though he hated the greasy haired boy himself.

"What's the old greaseball doing?" Sirius asked, brushing his fingers through his neat hair which had been cut short ever since he had been staying with the Potter's the previous summer, a sure sign of his improved mood after getting out from under the thumb of his crazy, old hag of a mother. Suddenly he realized what he was doing and sat bolt upright, "He's cursing her!"

However, the messy haired boy was already halfway around the lake and Sirius had to run at full speed to catch up with his friend. Peter looked up distractedly to see his two friends apparently doing laps around the lake. The small boy shrugged, thinking that it must be a Quidditch thing.

"Stupefy!" James shouted, his face set in a grim expression. A blast of light shot from his wand and hit Severus squarely in the chest. Wand still focused on the long-haired boy, James jogged the rest of the way around the lake.

A large crowd was milling around Snape's innate body by the time the two boys made their way to his side. "Ennervate." He muttered, rather reluctantly.

Snape looked up and around at all the people staring down at him. "What is this?" He spat, keeping his eyes fixed on James, "What did you do?"

"We could ask you the same question," he snarled. Most of the crowd had dispersed by now, but about five curious first years (including some from the earlier frisbee game) were still gazing on, hoping for a duel.

"Scatter," Snape sneered at the kids who promptly obeyed. He scrambled to get up but James prodded him, making him stay down.

"Explain why you tried to curse Lily Evans," James said, the words containing a quiet power behind them.

"Lily Evans? What's she got to do with you, Potter?" Snape sat up and James didn't push him down again.

"She's my friend, Snivelly, which is more than you can say about anyone," menacingly, he pointed his wand at Snape's throat, "Explain."

Sirius had been watching this exchange quietly but at this point he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around James' shoulder, lowering his wand away from the boy. "You'll have to forgive my friend, Snivellous," he said calmly, giving James a shadow of a wink, "He's just jealous of you."

Wary and suspecting some sort of ill-conceived plan, Snape looked at them sharply, "Jealous of what?"

"You mean you don't know?" James asked, feigning shock, instantly catching on to his fellow Marauder's plan.

"Know what?" Snape snapped impatiently.

"I guess he really doesn't know," Sirius murmured to James, who shook his head gravely.

"We should tell him," James decided.

"Tell me what?" Snape was thoroughly peeved by now, and he suspected even more strongly that they were playing him.

"Lily's in love with you," Sirius told him, looking earnest.

Something that looked like a flicker of hope sparked in Snape's eyes, but was quickly extinguished by his better judgment. His right hand closed around his wand, slowly and carefully, but James spotted him.

"Petrificus totalus!" He exclaimed, and Severus' body went ramrod straight and he keeled over. His black, angry eyes stared directly at James, full of hatred. James leaned over him, "Are you going to play nice?" He smirked, "We're trying to jumpstart your love life here."

"The least you could do is show a little appreciation, mate." Sirius added.

Snape continued to stare them down. James, realizing what he was trying to do, quickly averted his eyes, "No need for legilimency, Snape. We're not lying."

Despite James insistence, Snape turned his eyes to Sirius to attempt to penetrate his mind. To his surprise, the boy met his eyes and pushed forth images of him and Lily together, laughing and working on their potion project. "You aren't lying," he muttered, realizing for the first time the hope and wonder of that, "You're telling the truth..." A wistful gaze across the lake earned him a timid smile from Miss Evans, and James was rather certain that Snape was blushing, though with the alternating splotches of red that came from his attempts at legilimency it was difficult to say.

"What are you waiting for?" Sirius asked Snape, "Go ask her out!"

"No...no, I can't." Suddenly nervous, still unsure about the entire truthfulness of his enemies, Snape tensed again and said in a cold voice, "Leave. You have no further business here."

"Whatever," James replied with a casual shrug.

"Just remember..."Sirius advised, "she has a crush on you. So don't be afraid to take your chance...while it's there."


	4. Unexpected Answers

**Story:** All's Fair in Love and War

**Chapter:** Four, Unexpected Answers

**Authoress:** Bressa W.

**Authoress' Note:** PLEASE REVIEW! You know...-smirks evilly- I'm almost sorry that I told you guy's that it will be Lily/Snape...I really could have made you sweat with this chapter...Sorry this one is so short.

**XxXxXxX**.

"Lily?" Snape whispered, standing much closer to her than he ever had in his life, "Could I speak to you for a moment?"

Surprised at his gentle request and the absence of the word "mudblood", she agreed, to appease her curiosity. "Um...yeah, okay, sure." Together, they wandered into a far corner of the dungeon outside the potion's lab.

"Lily..." he whispered hoarsely, clearing his throat nervously. Then he said softly, sweetly, what some would even call lovingly said, "Will you go out with me?"

Dead beats of silence throbbed in Snape's ears as he waited patiently, but anxiously, for her reply.

James and Sirius, in the other corner of the dungeon, under James' invisibility cloak, were also waiting for her answer. "You know," Sirius whispered thoughtfully, "he's not doing too bad. She may even say yes."

James made a noise somewhere between a whine and a growl and fixed his attention on Lily. He nearly fainted when he heard what she said.

"Yeah, okay." She said, her green eyes twinkling with delight. Smiling warmly in the dim candlelight, she said, "I'd love to."

James spat more than a few expletives under his breath, but Sirius only sniggered.

"What's so funny?" James demanded, watching Lily and Snape leave hand in hand.

"What happens when they get married? Can you see their kids?" He sniggered again.

"SHE WON'T MARRY HIM!" James thundered, throwing off the cloak and running into the hallway.

"Hold up mate!" Sirius shouted, "I want to see their first date before we break them up!"

"Why?" James demanded, hazel eyes blazing with anger and anxiety.

"For the funny, of course," Sirius replied. When James glared at him, he added, "You have to admit, it's bound to be hilarious."


End file.
